Happy Birthday, Percy!
by PercyJacksonAddict
Summary: A oneshot. My birthday tribute to my hero. It may not have been the best birthday he'd ever had, but it sure as heck made him feel special. R&R!


**So, in honor of my hero's birthday, I decided to write this oneshot. I literally went to the bakery and bought a blue cupcake today, just for Percy. I meant to take a picture but I stuffed it down my throat in like two seconds *facepalm* Haha, yeah, that's me. SO ANYWAY, here's a oneshot. I love you, Perseus Jackson.**

**Oh, and this is set on the Argo II, during some journey to Rome or Greece or whatever, and to sum it all up - everyone has something to say to Percy on his special day. :DDD Awww.**

**Well, here it is! Hope you guys enjoy ^ -^**

**P.S. I meant to post this earlier, but I was SO busy today. I'm sorry Percy Dx**

* * *

"I'm sorry honey, it's just...my baby is all grown up, and..."

Percy sighed and shook his head as the Iris Message image of his mother wiping away her tears. "Mom," he said. "I'm only seventeen. I'm not even grown up! I'm still your baby!"

But Sally Jackson wasn't convinced. "Oh, you're just like your father." She smiled sadly, completely ignoring his words.

The freshly seventeen demigod groaned and put his head in his hands. "I miss your cookies, Mommy," he mumbled.

"And I miss you."

Percy looked up, and his voice cracked when he spoke. "Look, Mom. I know this was the last thing you wanted to hear today, but I just want you to know...to know that even I know I might... I might not make it back home." He hadn't meant to get so emotional, but this was his mother. The one who married Smelly Gabe for him.

His mom visibly winced, then sighed deeply. "If you... Gods forbid, if you died, Percy, I... would die too." She started to cry again.

Percy's eyes stung from the effort it took to hold back his tears. "Mom, please don't cry. You have to promise me - just promise you'll be okay without me."

Promise. It was an overused word, and people hardly ever really took the time to think about how much it really meant. You can't just throw special words around like that, Percy had learned. He had been born because a promise had been broken.

"I - Percy, I can't just - you - I don't know honey!" Sally raked her fingernails through her hair as she stuttered.

"Please," Percy begged. "For me, mom. Your baby. You have to promise."

It took a minute, but finally his mother sobbed, "I promise, baby, I promise."

Percy ran his hands through his hair and hung his head. "I love you," he whispered.

"I - I love you too, honey. Be careful."

"I will, Mom."

"Happy birthday," she added with a warm smile.

"Thanks," he sighed. His mother had been the first to say those words today, and he wouldn't have it any other way.

"Oh, and Percy?"

"Yeah, Mom?"

"Make sure to shave next time you get the chance. You look like Poseidon."

Percy finally allowed a grin to easily spread across his face, and he breathed a sigh of relief. This was his mother - the mother he knew. "You got it, Mom."

And he swiped his fingers through the image, watching helplessly as his mother's smiling face dissolved into mist, then into nothing.

* * *

Not half an hour later, Percy received another IM, this time from Camp Jupiter. Thank the gods he had been on the receiving end - he was running out of drachmas.

Reyna's face appeared - was that a... a smile?

"Good morning, praetor."

"What up, Rey?"

Her nose twitched slightly, but she shook the nickname off. "So, we heard that today was your birthday, and Frank and Hazel had showed us how to do this IMing thing. We gathered some of your Greek currency and decided to give this a try - and it's cool."

Percy grinned. "Right?"

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY, PRAETOR PERCY!" A feminine voice cried.

The smiling face of Gwen popped up next to Reyna. Reyna looked slightly irritated at the happy girl's outburst, but continued smiling nonetheless.

"Thanks, Gwen," Percy laughed. **(A/N: I had this dream where it was a senate meeting, and Percy needed Gwen to wrap his toga for him. She did it from then on, and he called her the "Toga Girl." So when I woke up, I was all like, LEMME USE THIS IN A STORY OMG...I'm weird.)** "How's the Toga Girl?"

"She's awesome, dude! But she won't wrap anybody else's togas except yours. It kind of sucks." A hiccup followed the excited voice, and Percy knew it was Dakota.

Dakota, as well as Bobby, appeared on either side of Gwendolyn. "Hey, praetor!" Bobby called. "Happy birthday, dude!"

* * *

Next up was Camp Half-Blood. There were too many birthday wishes, in Percy's opinion. He had so many friends there, he felt embarrassed by all the attention.

The most meaningful birthday wishes, though, were definitely from Chiron and Rachel.

Chiron had not once stopped smiling throughout the conversation they shared, even when it got to darker parts, like war and death - and Nico di Angelo. Percy didn't think he stopped smiling either.

"Happy birthday, my son."

"Thanks so much, Chiron," he had said. "You're the best."

* * *

And then he was staring through an Iris Message image of the Oracle cave. Completely decked out with enormous speakers, a huge flatscreen TV, all of Rachel's art supplies, and modern furniture.

"PERCY!" she cried when she saw his face. "Oh my god, Percy! Happy birthday!"

"Thanks, Rach. How's the painting going, huh?"

Her face lit up the way Annabeth's did whenever architecture was mentioned. "Well," Rachel said. "It's going great, actually! The dreams are really clear, and I'm starting to get them more and more often..." her smile faltered. "I try to get the memories down before I lose them, you know? There's a lot... about war," the redhead admitted. "But don't worry about that," she said dismissively. "The important thing is: IT'S YOUR BIRTHDAY!"

Seconds later, they were both laughing.

* * *

Even Thalia found the time to talk to him.

"You're my baby brother, Percy," she said. Thalia Grace was never one to get all mushy and family-ish with people, but it seemed Luke's version of family had taught her a lesson. "You and Nico," she continued. They both grimaced that the thought of the son of Hades somewhere in Rome, being tortured by Giants. The kid was twelve - he didn't deserve that.

"Bring him back," Thalia whispered brokenly. "Even if you're boys, I love you no matter how much it pains me to say it." She flashed Percy her famous grudging smile.

"I love you too, Thals, and so does the kid. After I wring his neck for lying to me, I'll be sure to give him a hug from you."

"We're family, Thalia said. "We stick together."

"Always kids of the Big Three," Percy agreed.

"Hope you have a miserable birthday, kiddo."

"You can't call me kiddo. I'm older than you."

"Shut up."

* * *

"I've had enough IMs for one day," Percy muttered to himself. He checked his watch and decided it would be around the time that Leo made breakfast for the passengers of the Argo II.

He stepped out of his cabin and climbed onto the main deck. Walking into the kitchen, Percy found Leo whistling a happy tune while cooking, his back turned to him.

"Morning, Leo," he said.

The elfish boy whirled around, then exhaled. "Gah! You scared me, _hermano_!"

Percy chuckled. "Sorry, man. What's for breakfast?"

"Your favorite." Leo grinned and showed him a plate of waffles. Blue waffles.

Percy gaped at the heavenly meal. "You - my mom and I - how did you even _get_ these?!"

Leo shrugged, as if it were nothing. "Annabeth's orders, you know."

Percy laughed and took the plate from Leo. "Of course."

Leo turned back to the waffle maker, whistling again. Percy sat down and helped himself to the waffles.

After a few minutes, the son of Hephaestus broke the silence. "Uh, Percy?"

Percy looked up, "Yeah?"

"Happy birthday," Leo said. "As gay as it may sound, you're...like, my idol."

* * *

"Happy birthday!" Those words again, Percy thought. Piper walked up to him and smiled.

"Thanks, Piper, he said gratefully.

"So," she said, her Aphrodte eyes sparkling, "how 'bout you teach me some moves, huh? My dagger skills would be rusty without you."

"It would be my pleasure to spar with you, Miss McLean," he said jokingly. He uncapped his sword and she unsheated her mirror-like dagger, Katropis.

"Now, let's start with an easy disarming trick a guy named Luke taught me once."

No, he hadn't forgotten that today was also the day Luke Castellan had died.

* * *

Frank and Hazel came up for breakfast next.

Hazel had obviously gotten a running start, because she jumped up and flung herself at Percy, sailing through the air until he caught her sharply, wobbling off balance but managing to stay on his feet.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" she screamed in his ear, but he found it cute.

"Thanks, baby sister," he whispered, twirling her around once before setting her down.

Frank slapped Percy on the shoulder like he always did. "Couldn't have said it better myself! You earned that flying tackle, bro. She only does that when she's really, really happy around people!"

"Well she must do that to you a lot, then," Percy said smoothly, not forgetting to throw in the wink that made both Frank and Hazel flustered. He smirked at their traditional reactions.

This birthday was turning out pretty good, for a demigod with his life on the line.

* * *

"Jason," Percy said.

Percy's counterpart looked up. "Oh, hey," he said monotonously.

Things were still a little rocky between the two, ever since the big fight.** (A/N PICTURE THE COVER FOR THE MARK OF ATHENA!)** But slowly, they were beginning to realize how much the needed each other to defend, to fight, to win.

"You okay?" Percy asked carefully. Usually Jason hung around with Piper and Leo during free time like this, or had long chats with Reyna over Iris Message.

"I'm okay," Jason replied, but it sounded more like self-assurance than anything else.

"No," Percy shook his head. "You're not."

"I can't help but freak out about this whole thing."

"You're telling me. I'm Percy Jackson - nothing ever goes right for me. Anyone told you the story about our side of the Titan War - the main invasion in Manhattan?"

Jason shook his head. "Not the full story," he confessed. "But there's probably a lot that I haven't heard, huh?"

"Oh yeah."

And so Percy launched into the long story of how he and his friends saved the world, how Percy broke a brdge with Riptide, how Silena was the spy, how Clarisse killed a drakon while in mourning, how Luke sacrificed himself, how Rachel became the Oracle, how so many were lost along the painful road to victory - almost including Annabeth.

The younger boy didn't say much, just asked the occasional question now and then. For the most part his face was locked on one expression - mouth hanging open, blue eyes wide.

"So," he said. "All of that happened in under twenty-four hours?!"

"Yep," Percy said.

"Wait," Jason said slowly. "So, the last Great Prophecy... That means today's your birthday!"

Percy smiled, genuinely relieved. "Thank the gods. Someone who DIDN'T know!"

* * *

By the afternoon, Percy was beginning to wonder what was up with Annabeth. He hadn't seen her all day.

He grabbed Hazel's arm as she was walking by. "Where's Annabeth?" he asked.

Hazel looked slightly uncomfortable and squirmed a little under his gaze. "Um, I wouldn't bother her if I were you. She..she's in the engine room."

Percy let go of her wrist, and the younger girl scampered away. He frowned. Why would his girlfriend be down in the engine room?

Completely ignoring Hazel's advice, he headed down below deck.

* * *

"It's been a year, Percy. Three hundred and sixty-five days since he died."

Percy didn't say anything. He just held her as she cried.

He had found Annabeth down in the engine room, just as Hazel had said. Obviously the daughter of Athena had been hoping the loud roar of the engine would block out the sound of her heartbroken sobs.

And Annabeth didn't cry. Not unless things were really, really bad. It reminded him of Siren Bay, the same way he wrapped his arms around her as her tears landed on his shoulder, dripping down onto his shirt.

"Well," he said quietly. "You can punch me and call me stupid and hate me now, I guess."

That stopped her crying - she hated not understanding something. "What?"

He felt his neck flush. She was going to kill him now. "It's our one-year anniversary, and I... I remembered, and I wanted to get you something really special, because I love you and I don't want you to dump me, but then this stupid quest came up and I... I didn't have the time, or the money, and I just couldn't..." he trailed off, kicking himself for not being able to get his brain to form words.

When he risked glancing up into her pretty gray eyes, he was surprised to see her staring at him as if he'd just dropped from space. "Percy...you love me?"

He raised an eyebrow. "Of course." Had he not said it before? Why -

_Oh_.

He wanted to pound his own face in right then. "I'm sorry," he blurted. "Is it too soon? I don't want to make you uncomfortable or - "

His little blubbering was interrupted when Annabeth tackled him, but they were sitting, so he couldn't catch her like he had caught Hazel.

His back hit the wooden floorboards, completely knocking the breath out of him. It didn't help at all that Annabeth was kissing him like he was a Grecian monument.

When he opened his eyes and came up for air, her eyes were shining with tears. But he knew that she wasn't upset - she was happy. She'd gotten the same look on her face when he declined Zeus' offer of immortality.

Her blond hair tickled his cheekbones. "I love you too," she breathed. "You're perfect, you Seaweed Brain."

"Happy Anniversary, Annabeth," he said, grinning.

"Happy birthday, Percy."

* * *

**^ Everything above that line break was written August eighteenth, but I didn't get to post this crap until the next day. -_- FAIL.**

**A/N Fin. Happy birthday, hero. Also, review please. Flames accepted, I guess. (Still getting used to FF language...)**


End file.
